Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-05-09

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM Tsipras briefs President, party leaders on Eurogroup results

[02] Eurogroup 'positive for Greece and Europe', says FinMin Tsakalotos

[01] PM Tsipras briefs President, party leaders on Eurogroup results

The prime minister said the first program review will conclude without any additional measures and Eurozone finance ministers also presented a road map for providing debt relief, which "constitutes a necessary expression of solidarity from the EU towards the Greek people".

He thanked Pavlopoulos for his assistance in this effort and told him he spoke with leaders of the opposition parties to start a meaningful dialog.

On his side, the President said that on Europe Day, Greece remains an unwavering pillar of the Eurozone and the EU, adding that this is the decision of all the democratic forces and the majority of the Greek people.

Earlier, Tsipras spoke with New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis, Communist Party leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas, PASOK leader Fofi Gennimata and Centrists' Union leader Vasilis Leventis, to inform them that he's available for any clarifications concerning the meeting.

[02] Eurogroup 'positive for Greece and Europe', says FinMin Tsakalotos

The minister said there is an agreement on the fiscal measures and the structural reforms and as soon as the country concludes the legislation of the necessary prior actions there will be a disbursement of the next loan tranche from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

He also said the EuroWorking Group (EWG) will prepare in the next two weeks the work for the next regular Eurogroup on May 24, by which all pending issues of the deal are expected to have closed.

Concerning the contingency mechanism, Tsakalotos said finance ministers agreed that the Greek proposal is the base for the talks, adding that the EWG will work to agree on the technical points.

Asked about the debt, which is part of the overall deal, he said today there was a first discussion and "an interesting exchange of views", noting that debt reprofiling will take place in three stages: The first on a short-term basis, which will start when the deal closes on the first program review and the loan installment is disbursed. The second, on a medium-term basis, when specific measures will be specified and implemented in 2018, on the condition that the government has completed the program successfully. The third stage will be on a long-term basis, for measures that concern the next decades.

The EWG will also examine technical issues concerning debt relief in three stages he said.

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